If people find the submission intellectually gratifying then it conforms to the spirit of Hacker News submission guidelines. Given the impact of Harper Lee's writing on US culture, it is not surprising if many people do.
I suppose the free form nature of HackerNews and the wide sprawling community make a lot of topics fair game. I recant my sentiment.
Hacker News. Not HackerNews.
I've come to think that the breadth of HackerNews is what makes HN "The HN for X" for most all X's.
I hear that sentiment a lot. Personally I'm glad that we bring important cultural happenings and such in as topics of discussion. What is society if not the most complex project that we've ever feigned to attempt to grok on hacker news. These are the global variables that affect everything.